Pulitzer prise-winning columnist Eugene Robinson said despite some of the negative commentary that was directed at President Barack Obama during and after the campaign, America is moving in the right direction racially.

In a phone interview with Robinson he told me that we are making progress but progress is not always smooth and linear.

"It was inevitable that some people are still uncomfortable with a black president and they don't see it in those terms," he said.

Since Obama won re-election, there have been a number of Conservatives who maintained their rhetoric and disdain for the president. Many African-American leaders say most of it stems from racism.

Others say the division stems from Obama's policies.

I believe it's a combination of a lot of factors. One thing that can make a lot of people feel better is a more robust economy and confidence that America is making a turn in the right direction.

We can no longer ask the question if we are better off. We need to be asking are my neighbors, my community, my city, state and nation better off or at least headed in the right direction.

Robinson, 59, who writes a twice-weekly column in The Washington Post, will be the keynote speaker at An Evening to Promote Racial Justice on Dec. 5 at the Marcus Center for Performing Arts. Registration is $50 and $20 for students.

Here are just a few topics we talked about:

On how society has changed. "Latinos are the largest minority group. Asian-Americas are the fastest growing and we have an African-American president. For a young man growing up in South Carolina in the 1950s if you would have told me that I would have asked you if you were smoking something," he said.

Should African-Americans be pushing Obama? "Advocates for the African-American community should be bringing issues to the president and they should be pressing him to have their issues heard," he said.